Local municipalities get OK to vote virtually

WEST CHESTER » Pennsylvania law now allows cities and boroughs the right to meet in public virtually to conduct official municipal business.

“The borough began meeting virtually this month and will continue to do so as long as necessary. When it is safe to gather, we will once again meet in our Council Chambers,” said West Chester Mayor Dianne Herrin.

Unlike most municipalities in the greater Philadelphia region, to connect online, West Chester opted to go with WebEx over Zoom.

“Zoom is hampered with security problems, including the FBI warning against its use,” Herrin said, citing articles by the New York Post and NPR. “To ensure security, our IT director teamed up with our technology partner to find an alternate solution, and he worked with WebEx engineers to design our own secure portal.”

Zoom has recently implemented a number of new protections and safeguards for users, a Zoom spokesperson told the Daily Local News on Saturday, noting Zoom continues to take action to enhance platform security.

“Zoom takes user privacy, security, and trust extremely seriously,” the Zoom spokesperson told the Daily Local News on April 25. “Zoom was originally developed for enterprise use, and has been confidently selected for complete deployment by a large number of institutions globally, following security reviews of our user, network and datacenter layers. As video-first communications becomes more popular and accessible, we feel a responsibility to help where we can.

“During the COVID-19 pandemic, we are working around-the-clock to ensure that businesses, schools, and other organizations across the world can stay connected and operational. As more and new kinds of users start using Zoom during this time, Zoom has been proactively engaging to make sure they understand Zoom’s relevant policies, as well as the best ways to use the platform and protect their meetings. We are proud of the role we are playing during this challenging time and committed to providing users with the tools they need on a safe and secure platform.”

In West Chester, the mayor said the WebEx platform has an interface similar to Zoom, in that people can sign in via phone or computer with or without video.

“Our Borough Council president (Michael Galey) conducts the meetings following the same format as any other public meeting and, when it comes time for public input, participants can ‘raise their virtual hand’ and our moderator calls on them one-byone for their comments and questions, and he ensures everyone gets the opportunity to speak and interact with the elected officials,” Herrin said.

The borough posts relative WebEx links and callin numbers on the landing page of its official website. West Chester is next holding its regular subcommittee meetings virtually on May 12 and May 13,. The Borough Council will hold its monthly work session on

Mary 19, virtually, and hold its voting session on May 20.

Most towns in Chester County are using Zoom to conduct its local government business including the boroughs of Kennett Square and Downingtown. Coatesville has plans to stream its first-ever virtual meeting online via YouTube.

“Borough Council is exploring ways to make the meetings more streamlined and efficient,” said Kennett Square Mayor Matthew Fetick. “Council will have ongoing discussions on the format of meetings to ensure public access and council member participation.”

The public can partake in the meetings virtually, too. Instructions on how to participate are shared at the beginning of each meeting.

“Public comment is encouraged,” Fetick said. “There are multiple opportunities throughout the meeting that allow for public comment. The public can raise their hand virtually, or signal to the borough (secretary) that they would like to make a comment and they will be acknowledged and given that opportunity.”

The Kennett Square mayor said there was plenty of public comment during the April meeting. Anyone with standard phone access can participate. There is a phone number associated with the Zoom meeting for anyone who does not have access to a computer or smartphone. They can still participate in public comment via phone.

“Downingtown will hold its next several meetings using video conferencing software,” said Stephen Sullins, Downingtown borough manager.